Year's Like These
by don'tforgetthenerdherd
Summary: The years that Ginny Weasely spent chasing after Harry Potter, and the ending she deserves.


**A/n-** Hey, just a reminder that all of this belongs to JK Rowling. This is a one shot that I though Ginny deserved, since I love her character so much. The years are numbered from the year she met Harry. Enjoy!

**Year 1**- You see him for the first time, when you are little girl. He has jet black hair and those overly-romanticized green eyes. True, he does not know you, but his fame has let you know him. He is your celebrity crush. The one who was safe to crush upon, because you would never meet him, and he would _never_ know you.

Suddenly the future seems laid out for you. He will meet you when it is finally your turn to go to Hogwarts. You will become good friends and slowly fall in love. Eventually you will marry and have perfect little children. But you didn't know it was him in time. He is on the train, rapidly disappearing, and your mother wouldn't let you on to see him.

You spend the whole summer pining over him, your fantasies growing more and more elaborate. Your whole life is planned out together and you can't wait for next year.

**Year 2- **The school year is so close, and so is the promise of him. There is a sickly-sweet feeling in your stomach as you anticipate your first meeting. However, when you see him at the Burrow, you are suddenly tongue tied and nothing goes right. Perhaps it is because this is the real world and not a fantasy where exactly what you want happens.

You are mortified and cannot speak to him, so he spends his days without ever talking to you. You hope fervently he doesn't make fun of you with Ron, as the 'strangle little sister'.

Just as quickly as he got there, the summer ends, and you are on the way to Hogwarts, more horribly excited than ever before. This is where you will shine, away from all the siblings, and just maybe the situation between you and him will get better.

You are predictably sorted into Gryffindor (all the Weasley's are), and suddenly the classes and new people are so much that he starts to leave your mind a bit. You still have many years at Hogwarts together, and there's no need to rush things. He is still friends with Ron, and if Ron hasn't annoyed him yet, then he never will.

You decide to try making a move though, just to see how it goes, and you write him a poem. You never meant for the entire school to hear it belted out of an ugly troll. Afraid he is ashamed and embarrassed by you, you decide to continue the avoidance of talking. Still mortified by the Valentine's Day fiasco, you resort to writing angsty entries about him in the old diary you found with your belongings. It had to be a Weasley item, because no one else would possess such a ruined book.

The year continues on, and you start feeling strange. Long periods of time are gone from your head, and you have a cold feeling in the pit of your stomach and chest that just won't go away. Even Percy, the oblivious, notices and sends you to Madam Pomfrey under the assumption you have a cold. When you find yourself covered in blood one morning you know something is horribly wrong, but what? You got to tell Ron, the one you mock the most, but are strangely the closest to. He is there, but despite that you still try to tell them. Percy startles you and you lose the nerve.

You come out of a painful trance to sharp pain, and he with you in the most terrifying place you've ever been. Still afraid of talking to him, you now also become ashamed of his bravery and your weakness, no matter how much your mum denies it. And thus ends that year with no more results than the last.

**Year 3- **Your hopes for this year are at an all time low. You keep a low profile, and don't even bother following Ron and them around. You finally start paying attention to the people in your year. You make a few good friends, and your marks vastly improve.

You still hear about him in the halls and are told of his new heroic deeds. He goes back to being your celebrity crush that will never go anywhere. You still hope for the best, but it becomes the improbable and you start to realize it won't happen.

In an attempt to get rid of these foolish feelings, you focus on his flaws, such as his knobbly knees, his cowlick, the funny way he walks and the way he also seems to be a bit socially awkward.

The year goes by in a blur, with Sirius Black being it's villain. He once more escapes it barely with his life, and you reflect on how lucky he still remains.

**Year 4- **The last year seemed to go by much more smoothly, and not adoring him seems to be the best option. Things finally start to go right for you. You start becoming more pretty and you begin to date boys. Your marks remain good, and the Triwizard Tournament is such an excitement! His name is entered and he becomes a champion.

You don't fawn over him like many others, and instead enjoy the fact that you yourself become rather famous, because your brother is best friends with him. You also become friends with Hermione Granger, which leads to you speaking to him a few times. He is less of the amazing star that you thought, and much more modest.

Your crush slips away almost altogether, and you laugh at your younger self. He almost died that year _again_, but somehow leaves Hogwarts still alive. You still find him intriguing, but in such a different manner than before.

**Year 5-** This year you resolve to feel the same way about him. You are so excited to go back to Hogwarts and see all of your friends again.

You change your manner, and become ever so much more outgoing. You try out for the Quidditch team when he is banned from it, and enjoy this year the best of all.

You actually start to become friends. You're in the DA together, and occasionally you will hang out with him, Ron and Hermione. You go through a plethora of boyfriends, and still haven't found the one.

He is so different from the boy in your head. You pictured him as snarky and funny, with a very outgoing personality and a taste for danger. Instead, he is fairly low key, and only outgoing around his friends; you appear to have become one. You both defy Umbridge together, and you are glad your crush is in the past, because he is a good friend.

At the ministry you fight with him and your other friends, and only survive because of what you were taught in the DA. You really hurt for him and his loss over Sirius, who you truly liked. The year ends just like every one of its predecessors, and you are so glad that your days of moping over him are behind you.

**Year 6- **Voldemort's reappearance means you are all staying at Grimmauld place together and it is more like hanging out with friends at a party than being in hiding. You are almost sorry when school starts, because it means the beginnings of school work and the end of being lazy (despite your mums constant job giving).

Fred and George have the most magnificent shop, and everything is just so much fun. He, however, is being so very annoying. True, you have some fun in the 'Slug Club' with him, and even more fun on the Quidditch field, but he is constantly obsessing over Malfoy and what he might be plotting. You are good enough friends know, that you feel allowed to be rude to him, which you are when he is whining.

Slowly, no matter how much you deny it, you are falling back in love with him. Although _back_ would be the wrong word to use, since the first time you adored him for his fame, and now you like him for who he is.

You throw yourself into your relationship with Dean, who is perfectly nice, but just has the one problem of not being Harry Potter. This leads to more fights, and you finally just break it off with him, after the embarrassing incident where he and Ron saw you kissing, and then Ron embarrassed you by being overly too protective.

The Quidditch game is coming up, and you practice your hardest in order to be the best and get his attention. He is still distracted with his quest to catch Malfoy in the act of some evil, and doesn't notice. When he is placed in detention, you become seeker for him, and are refusing to allow anything to happen other than a win. Perhaps you caught it by luck, but with luck or not you catch the snitch, and Gryffindor scrapes a win for the Quidditch Cup.

There's a party held in the Common Room for the Quidditch team, and you can't wait to find him and tell him of your success. Caught up in the euphoric moment, when you actually see him you realize how much you like him. You must have been falling slowly in love with him all year long, because you are suddenly completely enamored. He freezes at the sight of you, and you run to him. Suddenly you are kissing, and you don't know who initiated it or when it will end. He is a poor kisser because of how tentative and unsure he is, but it's part of his charm, and you like his lack of boldness.

Ron grudgingly accepts that you are now dating, and the warm bubble of joy in your chest refuses to burst. Everyone suddenly knows you as Harry Potter's girlfriend, and you become accustomed to a whole new kind of fame.

The fateful night when he leaves with Dumbledore, you take a swig of his little lucky potion, and are suddenly attacked by the Death Eaters. Malfoy has become quite the traitor that year, and Harry was right after all. You are disgusted that you once found his malicious sneer and grey eyes attractive, as you fight off his Death Eater friends. All of their spells narrowly miss you, and you thank the stars for your luck.

He comes back and breaks it off with you, nobly, so that he can go and defeat Voldemort. And the trend of years ending with a near death experience continues.

**Year 7-** He is at the Burrow long enough for Fleur and Bill's wedding, before he disappears during a dark wizard attack. He remains gone for so long (with Ron and Hermione), that you despair for their lives, and your mum is terrified for them too.

Ron comes back shortly before Christmas. When you wring it out of him that truly he left due to jealousy over Harry and Hermione's imagined love, you call him a coward. He is gone the next day, and you hope fervently he will find Harry and keep him alive. Hogwart's is horrible with the Death Eater's ruling, and you narrowly escape death and go back home to the Burrow.

You get summons from one of the DA members, saying that he is back at Hogwart's with Ron and Hermione, and you get there as quick as you can. You are confined to Room of Requirements by your parents, but leave anyways to fight alongside your friends.

You can't find him among the fighting and have to try so desperately to stay alive that you don't have time to extensively look. When Voldemort approaches Hogwart's and announces Harry's death, your world is torn apart, farther than You-Know-Who ever could've. You don't remember screaming, but are told after the battle that you did. All that matters was that suddenly his body was no longer in Hagrid's arms, but was running away and your happy bubble is whole again.

The final battle is staged in the Great Hall, and your search for him was stopped by Bellatrix. You doubt you have the strength or skill to win that particular dual, but if Harry could survive Voldemort again, than you can survive her. Suddenly, your mum is there screeching at Bellatrix, and as quickly as their fight began, Bellatrix was dead. You will never see your mum the same way again.

Voldemort and he fight their final battle that you are so afraid he cannot win. Surely his skill for survival won't extend this far; but it does, and he is alive while the Dark Lord is dead. The world is rapidly full of possibilities, and all you want to do is be at his side.

And when he kisses you, you know he wants you by his side as well.

**17 Years Later-** It's funny how looking back, its years like these that matter. These are the most important years of your life, which at the time, seemed to be the ones you wanted to forget as fast as possible.

Reliving your past thoughts and memories, it's so strange how none of your ideas of your future happened. And yet, somehow exactly what you had imagined has come true. Its years like these that make you never regret a single choice.


End file.
